Friends,
I was 14 years of age when President Kennedy was assassinated in Dallas Texas . Some of you where younger, or not born yet, and some of you are older . ,For those who remember that day , in the United States { America} , Europe or other locations in on this earth , it was truly significant . For those of you who remember that time I invite you to share a few words of your feelings during that time . Where where you when you got the new's and what effect did it have to you ?. In closing I am raising a pint to the memory of President Kennedy and to you my fellow members of this august forum. Best Regards , Steve Cook

At the time I had been in USAF basic training, in Texas, for less than two weeks. We were in an auditorium to watch a training film when one of the staff came in and told us "the president has been shot." We all looked at each other thinking "what are we supposed to do?" Most of us thought it was some kind of test and that we were supposed to know how to take some kind of action if the president was shot. A short time later the same staff Sgt. and another came back into the auditorium and said "the president is dead." I suppose, by the looks on our faces, the staff realized that we were confused. One of them said "we're not kidding, this is not a drill, the president has been assassinated." After that they showed the film (that I don't remember at all) and we went on with our training.

A few days later all training stopped and we had the day off for the funeral. Everything on Lackland AFB was closed so we just walked about or hung out in the barracks. We had no access to a television. Most people remember all of the TV coverage of the assassination and funeral but we saw none of it. The first time I saw any of the TV coverage was years later on the anniversary of the incident.

This is not going to be a very profound post, but this is my recollection:

I was eating lunch in a classroom at my high school, in Vancouver, B.C. Another student walked in and said JFK had been shot. It was very hard to believe, at first. We were given the rest of the day off. I've always had a high regard for JFK. I think he was a better man than some who followed him.

I was employed as a window washer at that time, and was cleaning windows at the college in Corvallis Oregon. Suddenly all the students were exiting the halls, all were crying, some were prostrate on the ground screaming. I stopped work in shock when I found out that the president had been assassinated. Then I loaded my equipment and went home to watch the television. It was a very sad day

__________________"What a large volume of adventures may be grasped within this little span of life by him who interests his heart in everything"-Lawrence Sterne